Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho went to a local bank and withdrew 10 million won and used it to make sales and purchase agreement for the condo that he wanted to buy for Jae-Sik Moon. He didn’t forget to use Jae-Sik Moon’s name in purchasing it. According to the real estate agent, it was okay to make the sales contract with him instead of the condo’s owner.

“Is it really okay that I make this sales and purchase contract with you, not with the owner?”

“That’s fine because the owner gave me the full authority to do so on his behalf. The owner is living a bit far from here—Jungdong Town, Bucheon City. You will meet him when the full payment would be made. Here is the condo’s real estate registration. As you can see, it’s very clean without any lien attached to it.”

Gun-Ho promised to pay the remainder of the payment within a week, and the real estate agent handed over the condo’s entrance passcode.

“Jae-Sik Moon is not my name, but he is a friend of mine. He will be the one who you will see when it is time to make the middle payment and the final payment.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, I’ve seen other people buying a condo without visiting the place, especially condos since a condo’s layout is very predictable. I understand that the buyer let his friend make the decision of picking a condo for him. It’s not very usual.”

Gun-Ho made a call to Jae-Sik Moon.

“Hey, since you don’t seem to budge, I’m here in a condo complex near the East Incheon Station.”

“What are you doing there?”

“I signed a purchase and sales contract to buy a condo with your name.”

“What?”

“I couldn’t buy a 30 pyung large condo because its owner asked for 260 million won for it. Instead, I bought a 26 pyung large one for 180 million won. It has one bathroom, but your parents will feel comfortable living here.”

“Huh? Why did you do that?”

“You will have to come here when it’s time to make the middle and final payments. It’s easy to find the real estate office. You just need to walk heading north once you get off the East Incheon Station. Its name is Jaeil Real Estate. The condo complex is Solbit, and your condo is in the third building at unit 8xx. The entrance passcode is 0719. Why don’t you come and check it out, maybe this evening? The wall is already redone. It’s vacant right now.”

“Oh, my!”

“I deposited 10 million won when I signed the contract. For the middle and final payment, use the money in the company bank account. If you don’t do it, I will lose 10 million won, okay?”

“Haha.”

Jae-Sik Moon visited the condo that Gun-Ho made a sales and purchase contract for that day.

“Wow. There are three bedrooms. My mom and dad can use the master bedroom. I can move my stuff from Mangwon Town to the room across the master bedroom.”

Jae-Sik went to his mother in the basement unit of an old townhouse in Hwapyeong Town. The townhouse was supposed to be redeveloped anytime soon, so there was a big word on the exterior wall in red, saying “Demolish.” When he entered his mother’s home, she was watching TV. Even the TV was very old that it couldn’t produce clear pictures. The house was humid, and Jae-Sik could smell mold.

“Jae-Sik, you are here!”

Jae-Sik’s mother seemed to be happy to see his son. There were steamed rice cakes on the table.

“You haven’t eaten any yet, right?”

“I already have, mom. You don’t need to get up to prepare food for me.”

“Well, then do you want to have some steamed rice cakes? The people from church stopped by here earlier and gave them to me.”

“No, it’s okay, mom.”

Jae-Sik opened the small room’s door. His stuff was still all there including his desk and even the slogan that he made for himself, which said, “You can do it.”

“How much security deposit did you say that you paid for this place?”

“I paid 1.5 million won as a security deposit, and its monthly rent is 150,000 won.”

“Put this place on the market, mom.”

“Why? Did they already set up a schedule for demolition? I love this place. I love my neighbors. I really get along well with those old ladies here. I do like my petty work peeling off bellflower roots’ skin as well.”

“Stop peeling off those bellflower roots’ skin, and just put this place on the market. I bought a condo at Solbit Condo Complex near the East Incheon Station.”

“You bought a condo? Where did you get that kind of money?”

“I’m leaving for China next month to work. My employer lent me some money, and I could manage to buy a condo by adding some of the money that I have saved up.”

“Really? Is that really true?”

Jae-Sik’s mother’s eyes widened.

“You don’t have to live in the basement anymore, mom. Let’s live in a place with lots of sunlight.”

“Do you really mean it?”

“Yeah. I will ask dad to move in with us. I will send you some money for your living expenses. You can live in that condo with dad for the rest of your life.”

“What about the creditors? Aren’t they going to come to that condo and harass us for the debt?”

“You don’t have to worry about it. They won’t come to that condo. I’ve already paid off my debt, and dad filed for bankruptcy with the court. So, you don’t have to worry about the creditors. You just need to move to that condo and stay there peacefully.”

Jae-Sik’s mother looked at Jae-Sik’s face; there was still a scared look on her face.

Jae-Sik’s mother had been harassed for her entire life by creditors. Jae-Sik felt sad by looking at his mother’s reaction. He came close to his mother and held her hand and tapped her back trying to make her feel safe.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing, mom. I made lots of money. Just move to the new place, okay?”

Jae-Sik made sure that his mother understood that she needed to put the current home on the market and to get ready to move to a new place before leaving there. His mother nodded her head, but she still looked skeptical.

Jae-Sik came back to his home and prepared dinner while waiting for his wife to come home from her work. When Jae-Sik’s wife came home and saw the dinner being already ready, she looked surprised.

“Huh? Why are you here, honey? It’s not the weekend.”

“Don’t you feel tired? It’s hard to commute from here, right? Dinner is ready.”

“What’s the occasion? What is it?”

“I came to the area to see a condo.”

“A condo? What condo?”

“I bought a condo. It’s a 26 pyung large one in a condo complex near the East Incheon Station.”

“You bought a condo? With what money?”

“President Goo gave me the money to buy that condo.”

“What? President Goo?”

Jae-Sik told his wife the whole story about how he had helped Gun-Ho make money while working for GH Logistics. The story started from the moment when he had to change his residential address to Seonghwan City, which was one of the reasons why he had to live there during the weekdays. He also further explained how he purchased the adjacent farmland around GH Logistics and another landlocked property with his name and then went through the land-use conversion process, and finally sold the entire land to a cosmetic company.

“Oh, so you used your name to buy those lands. I thought they belonged to the company. Well, I guess you sort of earned that money from President Goo. A friend of mine bought a house the other day using someone else’s name, and she later paid the person who let her use her name in the sales transaction.”

“But, it’s still excessive. I just let him use my name, and he bought me a condo that is worth 180 million won.”

“It is indeed excessive, but he is rich, right? There is a rumor that he is a big player in Gangnam District. Even though 180 million won is huge to us, maybe it’s not to President Goo. You can work hard when you go to China thinking that you are paying him back that way. Also, he made money with your help anyway.”

“Hmm.”